Face is the index of the mind and the mind is always preoccupied with thoughts

Monday, November 28, 2005

Eden Gardens clean bowls India

A big match in Eden Gardens, Calcutta is generally a moment to savour. But what happened on 25 November, 2005 is really hard to take. Most of the Indians would like to forget what happened that day not because of the terrible all-round performance by the Indians but because of the way the crowd pulled its weight in South Africa's favour. Come on! One can't support the opposition just because your state player is not playing for the country. The truth is Sourav Ganguly did not deserve a placed in the one day squad going by his current form. Current form! He has been going through a bad patch for the last two years. What more does he expect from the selectors? But, what does Calcutta do? It shows its disappointment by ridiculing the home team and applauding the visitors. There is definitely nothing wrong in applauding the opposition's performance but why turn hostile to a team that you have been supporting for the last how many ever years.

It is a funny story. Calcutta turns hostile because one of its favourite sons is discarded from the team. Does that mean they are doing a favour by turning hostile to the others. It was a shame to see such a crowd in the best sporting ground in the country. It was the same crowd that reacted badly to Sri Lanka's semi final loss in the 1996 World Cup. These were the same guys who cut loose when Tendulkar was given out in controversial circumstances in the Asia cup test match against Pakistan at the very venue. So, where did they lose all the patriosm in a jiffy? In any case, I don't mean to justify the earlier actions from the crowd, but it just goes to show how things change drastically in such a short span of time. Sachin, Hai Hai and Dravid Murdabad are not the kind of reactions you expect from this cricket frenzy crowd. It certainly leaves a bad taste in front of the international community. If this is the case, there should have been riots in Bangalore when Rahul Dravid was dropped from the one day squad for a year in the late nineties. What about VVSLaxman? Hyderabad crowd should have indulged in mountain throwing (not just stone throwing!!) at the Indian players.

It is the overall interests of the team that have to be kept in mind rather than single out individuals. Sourav Ganguly has been a great player and a great skipper, but that is past as no player can rest on past laurels. One has to consistently perform at the international level to cement a place in the team. An Eden Gardens match is as exciting for the spectators as for the players. This may be the first time that an Indian team was dreading to play on one of its favourite turfs. It would have given a lot of jitters to the team to be hounded like this. I bet they wouldn't mind playing a match even in Karachi for nothing can get worse than this!

Luckily I did not get to see the match. As such, it was disgusting to see the reports in all the news sites. One match not worth remembering!

4 comments:

Hey,You are trying hard to make sense out of nonsense of Cal crowd. They are never sane. Their frenzied actions have always been at extreme and brought shame to country (even if u term it as patriotism). They are the same insane people who carry Ganguly on their shoulders and perform pooja on him Ever seen Mumbaikars doing it for the God of cricket - Tendulkar ? No because they are sane. So are the Blore crowd or Hyd crowd. Enter any discussion forum or blog comments, they convert the argument of dropping non-playing person to the dropping of "Bengali".Thus they were shown finger by Chappel. Dravid slapped them in a gentlemanly behaviour by applauding Mumbai crowd.

we bengalis are not patriotic... we always protest against anything wrong happening! even if it is against our own country! if kashmiris want freedom let them be free... a father is not supposed to lock up his child who wants to career on his own or marry someone of his own choice!